Process and apparatus for treating film



l Patented Apr. 5, 1927.

UNITEDv STATES PATENT OFFICE.Y

i CHARLES DE MOOSyiOF, FORT LEE, NEXV JERSEY, A SSIGNOR TO EASTMAN`KODAK COMPANY, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION F NEW YORK.

:PROCESSl AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING FILM.

Application led March 3, 1923.

This invention relates to photography and has particular reference tomachines in which long film bands are treated in various .fiuid baths,polished and dried. One object of my'invention is to provide a processby which the film band may be completed and conditioned for use in asingle machine; another object is to provide a machine in which the filmmay be dried and polished lo before finally being wound into 'thecompleted roll; another object is to provide a means for drying andpolishing one side of the film before it enters the drying chamber;another object is to provide a suitable polishl ing belt and mount fromwhich the belt may be easily removed for cleaning; and other objectswill appear from the following specification, the novel features beingpointed out in the claims at the end thereof.

It is common practice to develop, wash, fix, wash, tint or tone, washand finally dry long lengths of film band in commercial lants. Thisseries of treatments does not, owever, prepare the film for its ultimateuse, that is, either asa negative film from which the positivesused forprojection are made, or a-s a positive itself. There are, after thetreatments above described, imperfections on the film band, such as themoisture lines and irregularities left on the back of the film or theremay be markings from the toning bath, and a certain amount of dirt ordust in the form of 'very minute particles .which collect on the film inspite of such precautions as the use Vof air conditioners, etc. The filmis, therefore, after drying, usually passed through a bath of suitablecharacter such as alcohol, to soften'the dry im erfections and the backis then burnis ed to as high a gloss as possible after the undesirablemarkings and dust particles have been as nearly removed as possible.After having dried the film there are liable to be tiny bits whichy theparticles have caused in the base, and these are frequently turned intoscratches when the filmv is retreated unless great care is taken.Moreover it is difficult to get the high gloss which is desirable on thelm base where the fiuid markings have dried on the film.

With my invention I first remove all surface moisture and dry the lmback, after which I polish the back before drying the entire film band,thus not only producing because the front or emulsion side of the lm aclean film back before the final winding Serial No. 622,690.

.particles on the back may be (and frequently are) transferred to theemulsion side of the film when Wound together. This is serious cannot bebuffed and treated as the back, so that my process also eliminates thisdifficulty. As it is also obvious that dirt or foreign particles willnot stick to a dry highly polished film base, the total amount of Suchparticles will be greatly reduced by drying and polishing the film baseimmediately upon being drawn out of the fluid treatment baths, where, ofcourse, the film is clean.

Coming now to the drawing in which like reference characters denote likeparts throughout:

Fig. 1 illustrates dia ammaticall the essential parts of a mac 'ne uponw ich my process may be carried out;

Fig. 2 is a detail of a. portion of the machine constructed inaccordance with and`illustrating one form of my invention;

Fig. 3 is a detail of another portion of the machine constructed inaccordance with my invention; y I

Figf is a section on line IV-IV of Fig. 3; an

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail of a screw.

The film band F Vis moved by sprockets 1 through a series of liquidtreatmentbaths, here indicated as developing in tanks 2,

,washing in 3, fixing in 4, and washing in water in 5. I alsocontemplate using more tanks than illustrated for tinting and toning andfor additional washing as may be required.

Afber passing through these fluid treatment tanks the film is drawn upover rollers 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, the latter four being shown 100 indetailin Fig. 2. These rollers are sup-- ported b shafts 11, 12, 13 and14 carried by the racket 15 from which there eX- tends two lugs 16 and17. Each lug supports a suction nozzle 18 consisting of a 105 taperedportion 19 having a narrow suction slit 20. Lugs 21 of nozzle 18 embracea shaft 22 about which a spring 23 is coiled thrusting the nozzle in thedirection of the arrow. A screw 24 limits this movement by 110contacting) with the tapered end 19.. This screw, is est shown in Fig.5, whereln the These nozzles not only remove the Superf fluous waterfrom the emulsion side f of the film, but completely dry the back of thefilm f or that side opposite the emulsion side. By completely dry I meanthat no appreciable amount of moisture can be felt by the hand on theback surface of the film after passing the nozzle, and that a pad ofpolishing felt 29 will not become damp after running in contact withsuch film for hours.

After passing from the last roller 10 the film F passes over a buffer30,` here shown as consistlng of a felt belt 29 mounted upon rollers 31and 32. It should be noted (Fig. 3) that the film is drawn to and from,the bufferat such an angle that good contact is always obtained. Roller32 is carried by a shaft 33 affixed to bracket 34, and is preferablyequipped with flanges 35 to confine the belt 29 to a definite path.Roller 31, similarly fianged at 36 is carried by shaft 37 mounted on alink 38 hinged at 39 to bracket 34. A spring latch normally holds theparts in the osition shown, but permits link 38 and ro er 31 to be swungto the broken line position whenl latch 40 is sprung from its connectionwith link 38, thus lpermitting a clean belt to be placed on the rollers.In practice a series of belts are used so that they can be frequentlychanged, being'- thoroughly cleaned before being used on the machine.

The belt 29 is driven against the direction of the film movement-seearrows Fig. 3--to exert a cleanin and bufiing action on the film, beingmoved y a roller 41, mounted on shaft 42 and driven through pulley 43and lbelt 44. Small oints or serrations 45v grip the belt and t e rollermay be cut away between the gripping portions as indicated at 46. i

From the cleaning and polishing station just described the film passesinto a drying chamber 47 and 48 through which air is blown by a suitablemechanism, not shown. Passing out over spockets 49, 50 and roller 51 thefilm is wound into a roll at 52 completely ready for its final use. Thewind-up mechanism consists of rollers 53 and 54, the former beingpreferably power driven, while the later is equipped with a handle 55for manual operation.

It is to be understood, of course, that, while the drawing illustrates apreferred embodiment of my invention, I do not wish to be limited to theexact details of such a machine but contemplate as within thc scope ofmy invention all such machines and processes as shall come within the.scope of the appended claims..

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. The process of treating motion picture film which consists in thefollowing steps: first, passing the film band through aqueous baths;second, removing the surface moisture from the film and drying one sidethereof; third, polishing the dry side of the film, and fourth, passingthe film band through a drying chamber.

2. The process of treating motion picture film having a support with aphotographically sensitive coated side and an uncoated side whichconsists in passing the film through aqueous baths, removing the surfacemoisture from the photographically sensitive coated side, drying theuncoated sidc, polishing the uncoated side, and finally drying thecomplete film band.

3. The process of treating motion picture film having a support with Iaphotographically sensitive coated side and an uncoated side whichconsists in passing the film through aque/ous baths, removing thesurface moisture from the photographically sensitive coated' side,drying the uncoated side immediately after the removal of the film fromthe fluid bath, polishing the dry side to 'a high gloss thus reducingthe film area upon which dust may collect to a minimum, and finallydrying the complete film band.

4. An apparatus for treating motion picture film bands, including aseries of aqueous treating tanks through which the film is passed, asuction nozzle mounted above an aqueous treating tank, a movable mountfor the suction nozzle, means for guiding the film band past the suctionnozzle, and means including an eccentric adapted to contact with andmove the suction nozzle for adjusting the suction 'nozzle to or from thefilm.

5. An apparatus for treatingl motion picture film bands comprising aseries of liquid treating tanks and a suction nozzle mounted above aliquid treating tank, means for guiding the filmband past the suctionnozzle, and an eccentric screw having a head eccentric with its shank, aportion of the head contacting with the suction nozzle, whereby thenozzle is moved to or from the film by turning the screw head on itsshank. l

6. An apparatus for treating motion picture film bands comprising aseries of liquid treatment tanks,- a suction nozzle mounted over atreatment tank, rollers mounted above the tank adapted to guide the filmband past the suction nozzle, a support, the suction nozzle beinghingedly mounted upon the support, a spring for pressing'the nozzle inone direction and an adjustable stop limiting the movement ofl thenozzle .under the" ture film bands comprising a series of treatvzo menttanks, a series of guide rollers mounted over a tank, means for removingmoisture from the film near the guide rollers, a film buing devicelocated on one side of the film path, comprising a buing belt mountedupon rollers, means for swinging one roller relative to the other topermit changing the builin belt.

, '8. n apparatus for bufling film strips comprising a pair of rollers,abelt passing over the rollers, a support, one rollerbeing` carried uponashaftiailixed to the support, a link ada ted to swing into twopositions, the other ro ler being' carried by the swinging ,link,a powerdriven rollercarried'by the -support,`said roller driving the belt whenthe swinging link is in one position.

'9. An apparatus for buiing lilm strips comprising a pair of rollers, abelt passing over the rollers, a support, one roller being carried upona shaft aixed to the suppo a link adapted to swing into two'positlons,

the other roller being carried by the swinging link, and means forretaining the link 1n position to hold the belt in contact'with thedriving roller. f

10. An apparatus for builing film strips comprising a pair of rollers, abelt passing over' the roller, a support, one roller beingl carried upona shaft ailixed to the support, a' link adapted to swing into twopositlons, the other roller being carried by the swinging link, a latchfor holding the link in one position vin which the belt is under tensionand positioned for use, the link when released irom said latch being'Aadapted to swing into the other position in which the tension on thebelt is released so that the belt 'can be removed.

Signed at Fort Lee, New Jersey, this 27th day of February 1923. p

CHARLES DE MOUS.

